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Improving government policy on risk: Eight key principles

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  • Aven, Terje
  • Renn, Ortwin

Abstract

This paper discusses the basic principles that a government should adopt when it comes to risk. There seems to be broad agreement about general principles, such as openness and transparency, involvement, proportionality and consistency, and making decisions based on evidence, but when it comes to a more detailed level, suitable principles are missing or are inconsistent. For example, what does it mean to base decisions on evidence or to act with proportionality when regulating or managing risk? The present paper aims at stimulating a discussion on this topic by formulating eight specific principles that governments should apply for the effective treatment of risk in society. The authors consider these eight principles to reflect current scientific knowledge produced by the risk analysis field, but like all principles of this type they are grounded in normative requirements of “good†governance. Several examples are used to illustrate the discussion.

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  • Aven, Terje & Renn, Ortwin, 2018. "Improving government policy on risk: Eight key principles," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 230-241.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reensy:v:176:y:2018:i:c:p:230-241
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2018.04.018
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    1. Jones-Lee, M. & Aven, T., 2009. "The role of social cost–benefit analysis in societal decision-making under large uncertainties with application to robbery at a cash depot," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 94(12), pages 1954-1961.
    2. Andreas Klinke & Ortwin Renn, 2012. "Adaptive and integrative governance on risk and uncertainty," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 273-292, March.
    3. Hood, Christopher & Rothstein, Henry & Baldwin, Robert, 2004. "The Government of Risk: Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199270019.
    4. Aven, Terje & Heide, Bjørnar, 2009. "Reliability and validity of risk analysis," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 94(11), pages 1862-1868.
    5. Aven, Terje, 2017. "How some types of risk assessments can support resilience analysis and management," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 536-543.
    6. Teng, Kuei-Yung & Thekdi, Shital A. & Lambert, James H., 2012. "Identification and evaluation of priorities in the business process of a risk or safety organization," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 74-86.
    7. Igor Linkov & Sabrina Larkin & James H. Lambert, 2015. "Concepts and approaches to resilience in a variety of governance and regulatory domains," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 183-184, June.
    8. Aven, Terje, 2016. "Risk assessment and risk management: Review of recent advances on their foundation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(1), pages 1-13.
    9. Aven, Terje, 2015. "Implications of black swans to the foundations and practice of risk assessment and management," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 83-91.
    10. Richard J. Arnould & Henry Grabowski, 1981. "Auto Safety Regulation: An Analysis of Market Failure," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(1), pages 27-48, Spring.
    11. Asa Boholm, 1998. "Comparative studies of risk perception: a review of twenty years of research," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 135-163, April.
    12. Terje Aven & Ortwin Renn, 2010. "Risk Management and Governance," Risk, Governance and Society, Springer, number 978-3-642-13926-0, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aven, Terje, 2019. "The cautionary principle in risk management: Foundation and practical use," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. Paul Lindhout & Genserik Reniers, 2021. "Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Lima, Eliana Sangreman & Costa, Ana Paula Cabral Seixas, 2019. "Improving Asset Management under a regulatory view," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Terje Aven, 2020. "Risk Science Contributions: Three Illustrating Examples," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(10), pages 1889-1899, October.
    5. Aven, Terje, 2020. "Three influential risk foundation papers from the 80s and 90s: Are they still state-of-the-art?," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    6. Liu, Peng & Ma, Yanjiao & Zuo, Yaqing, 2019. "Self-driving vehicles: Are people willing to trade risks for environmental benefits?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 139-149.
    7. Björn Lundgren & H. Orri Stefánsson, 2020. "Against the De Minimis Principle," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(5), pages 908-914, May.
    8. Terje Aven, 2018. "Reflections on the Use of Conceptual Research in Risk Analysis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(11), pages 2415-2423, November.
    9. Aib Abdelatif & Djamel Nettour & Rachid Chaib & Ion Verzea & Salim Bensehamdi, 2023. "Improvement of enterprise risk visualization: risk mapping," Technology audit and production reserves, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 6(2(74)), pages 28-36, December.
    10. Aven, Terje, 2018. "How the integration of System 1-System 2 thinking and recent risk perspectives can improve risk assessment and management," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 237-244.
    11. Aven, Terje & Kristensen, Vidar, 2019. "How the distinction between general knowledge and specific knowledge can improve the foundation and practice of risk assessment and risk-informed decision-making," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Devyani Pande & Araz Taeihagh, 2021. "The Governance Conundrum of Powered Micromobility Devices: An In-Depth Case Study from Singapore," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, May.
    13. Terje Aven, 2019. "The Call for a Shift from Risk to Resilience: What Does it Mean?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(6), pages 1196-1203, June.
    14. Young Jun Choi & Mi Sun Jeon, 2020. "How Business Interests and Government Inaction Led to the Humidifier Disinfectant Disaster in South Korea: Implications for Better Risk Governance," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 240-253, February.

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